The best way is to allow people to be well-informed, says Abu Talib

Aku menyambut baik kenyataan Pengerusi Suhakam, Abu Talib Othman berkenaan isu kebebasan mendapat maklumat. Namun agak mengecewakan apabila Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri masih berdolak-dalik dengan mengemukakan alasan yang sudah lapuk.

Time has come to relax censorship laws, says Abu Talib

Yap Mun Ching
4:43pm Tue Sep 9th, 2003

The government should ease-up on the censorship of information as such restrictions would only evoke stronger resistance from the people, said Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) chairperson Abu Talib Othman today.

"The more we try to control people’s minds, the more they will try to resist. It is in human nature to dislike opposing views. It is also in human nature to have opposing views.

"We can no longer screen individual minds and restrict them to narrow views and opinions," he said in his opening address at the Suhakam annual conference in Kuala Lumpur.

According to him, Malaysia and her citizens can no longer afford to be culturally isolated in view of the advances in information technology and globalised communications infrastructures.

"It is noteworthy that Malaysia is pursuing a vigorous strategy towards a knowledge-based society. Maybe the days of censorship are over," he said.

Abu Talib also acknowledged that there is still the question of whether the right to information include those which are considered blasphemous, pornographic or irresponsible.

"Personally, I do not think so. Such rights were not only never envisaged by the framers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 (UDHR) but also contrary to our religion and culture," he said.

Nevertheless, the Suhakam chairperson said the best way for the country to make the right choice is by exposure and not by censure.

"The best way is to allow people to be well-informed," he said, referring to Article 19 of the UDHR on the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

No double standards

Commenting on this at a press conference later, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Dr Rais Yatim said the government cannot shirk from preventing the dissemination of information which are blatantly against the laws of the country.

"If there are things that are seditious and pornographic, we must act. We cannot have double standards," he said.

Rais, who presented the opening address at the conference, said the matter does not only concern whether Malaysians are mature enough but involves a balancing of values in a heterogeneous society.

"We have to take case of our values system. People may say that we are too dogmatic or parenting in our approach. But it must be there for the sake of society itself," he added.

The minister said the decision regarding changes in censorship laws lies with the Home Ministry.

"I am not in the know of any immediate reaction to allow (changes) positively," added Rais, who is also the de facto law minister.

The issue of censorship cropped again last week when the authorities seized copies of recently released memoirs of former Malaysian Communist Party (MCP) leader Chin Peng. No official reasons were immediately given for the seizure but Home Ministry officials said the book - published in Singapore - was still under review.

‘All are equal’

Earlier when explaining Suhakam’s theme for the conference - Human Rights and the Administration of Law - Abu Talib said no matter how perfect the law is, it is only as good as the individual administering it.

"Here lies the relevancy of the role of policy-makers, law enforcement agencies, professional lawyers and the courts. The outcome of any investigation rests very much on the attitudes of the policy-makers and the professionalism of the investigating agencies," he said.

Abu Talib, who was a former attorney-general, stressed that "justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done" through the implementation of law without prejudice.

"All persons are equal before the law and entitled to equal protection of the law. Victims of any crime are entitled to prompt and effective remedy.

"Unnecessary delay in the disposition of cases and the execution of order granting awards to the victims must be avoided at all costs," he added.

The two-day conference includes two symposiums themed - ‘The judiciary and the UDHR’ and ‘Concerns relating to arrest, custody, remand and fair trial procedures’.

Key speakers include a former chief justice of India and former chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of India Justice J S Verma, former Bar Council chairperson Raja Aziz Addruse and director of the Centre for Southeast Asian Law at Australia’s Northern Territory University Prof Wu Min Aun.


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